UPDATE: Posey questionable for SF Giants game Wednesday

UPDATE, 10:53 p.m.: Buster Posey had the nail on his right ring finger pulled back by a sixth-inning Madison Bumgarner pitch that hit off the lip of the plate and bounced up. He had the end of the finger wrapped after the game. Manager Bruce Bochy said he’s questionable for Wednesday’s series finale.

GAME STORY:

San Francisco Giants v San Diego Padres

Denis Poroy/Getty

By Henry Schulman

San Diego – Every time Madison Bumgarner pitches he states his case as one of the premiere pitchers in the majors. Only those who stubbornly cling to personal wins as the best gauge of a pitcher’s worth would disagree.

Bumgarner’s worst affliction is playing for an offensively challenged team whose hitters are at their worst on the nights he throws.

Bumgarner should have cruised to his 12th victory Tuesday night. Heck, he might be going for his 16th or 17th on a better-hitting team. Instead, he had no decision in the a 3-2 loss to the Padres.

The Giants had a merry-go-round of baserunners, but the ride always got stuck when it came time for those runners to come home. They were 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

Remarkably, Bumgarner has only one win since the All-Star break. The Giants have lavished him with 13 runs of support over the nine starts.

The loss assured the Giants no better than a 4-5 trip. They still do not have a winning record on a multicity trip with one chance to go, a 10-gamer against the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees.

Angel Pagan had his best night back with a single, double and triple (in order), a stolen base and a long charge in to catch a sinking line drive. All three hits started innings, but in classic 2013 Giants form he scored zero times. Huston Street struck him out to open the ninth.

He tripled off Tim Stauffer to start the seventh inning in a 2-2 game. Tony Abreu and Brandon Belt both hit the ball in the air, but too shallow to score Pagan. Hector Sanchez struck out.

Sanchez pinch-hit for Buster Posey, who had a Bumgarner pitch in the sixth hit the dirt and bounce off a finger on his throwing hand.

Bumgarner did his best work that inning after Will Venable hit a leadoff double. Bumgarner struck out Jedd Gyorko, Jesus Guzman and Logan Forsythe to preserve the tie, Forsythe flinging his bat to the ground after swinging through a 91-mph fastball.

The Padres took a 3-2 lead off the Giants bullpen in the seventh. Nick Hundley enjoyed a four-pitch walk from just-promoted Jake Dunning and scored on Chris Denorfia’s one-out single against Javier Lopez.

Heath Hembree struck out two of his three hitters in the eighth inning in his major-league debut, showing a 92-mph fastball and a wicked-hard slider.

They made Erlin throw 30 pitches in the first inning. They had two singles (Pagan, Posey), a walk (Hunter Pence) a stolen base (Pagan) and, naturally, no runs.

No wonder Bumgarner pitched as if he needed to be perfect to win.

He threw to the minimum number of hitters until the fifth, when Blanks doubled with one out. The Padres had their first runner scoring position and cashed in. Nick Hundley continued to crush the Giants with a two-strike, two-out double for a 1-0 San Diego lead.

To the Giants’ great dismay, that grew to 2-0 when Erlin singled home Hundley for his first big-league hit after an intentional walk to Ronny Cedeno.

That finally jolted the Giants’ offense, which tied the game 2-2 in the sixth on singles by Pablo Sandoval and Joaquin Arias.